With the waves of Conquer the Seas looming ever closer and ready to crash through our screens, we've been doing our best to milk our devs for as much info as possible to wet your appetites while we wait. Thus far we have brought you some details on the changes to mechanics, features both old and completely new, and game-play. Today we cornered one of our artists and did our best to force some information from their paws.

Our humble artist/developer confessed that he has been diligently working to upgrade the looks of much of the magic you so happily use to destroy and disfigure your enemies. With Conquer the Seas, you will see Earth Magic mightily revamped. Blood gorged spikes erupt from your foe's feet with Impale, fiery, burning, rocks rain down with Meteor Strike, the essence of a mighty, roaring bear will summon in your casting of Brawn and much more!

We've included a small video here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l370xBsch2E) to show you some examples of our pumped up Earth Magic.
All the schools of magic will be seeing visual revamps however. Earth Magic is simply the one that will be coming with Conquer the Seas, with the rest of the schools hot on it's heels.

Magic is not the only aspect to receive some visual lovin' however. Keep an eye out for idle animations, new tombstones, blood splatter with extra helpings of gore and much more!

DeadlyHit

12-02-2009, 13:43

wewt

i came buckets over those spell effects.

Tribaja

12-02-2009, 13:45

Lol, milk devs, kinky.

xerian

12-02-2009, 13:45

nice

linki

12-02-2009, 13:45

cant wait :D

Paranoia21

12-02-2009, 13:49

wewt

i came buckets over those spell effects.

same

Tyki Mykk

12-02-2009, 13:50

suweet

MortalZero

12-02-2009, 13:51

Earth mage here :D

awesomesauce and thanks devs :)

Frisca

12-02-2009, 13:52

Nice!

Can I qq now and find some reason why this is wrong and Imba ? :)

xerian

12-02-2009, 13:52

Imagine how volcano will end up looking once they get around doing that :o

Urme the Legend

12-02-2009, 13:53

Cool! I wonder if Meteor Strike will be a "real" AE spell now instead of a "bolt"?

But the graphics look cool.

Phohammar

12-02-2009, 13:53

Kinda sucks that it's only earth magic.

linki

12-02-2009, 13:54

Kinda sucks that it's only earth magic.

atleast its a start, the rest will follow :)

Darkbone

12-02-2009, 13:55

Uuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh

Me loves Impale!

Was always my most loved spell because of the way it works, and now it got such an AWESOME looking animation!

So much love for details. Greatzzz.

Aerias

12-02-2009, 13:55

Kinda sucks that it's only earth magic.

For now. It's great that they've going over their placeholder spell effects finally.

Akatsuki#1

12-02-2009, 13:55

Just earth? lol, will be months before the others get patched

xerian

12-02-2009, 13:55

Magic is not the only aspect to receive some visual lovin' however. Keep an eye out for idle animations, new tombstones, blood splatter with extra helpings of gore and much more!

Yay, new tombstones :D

FolAng

12-02-2009, 13:57

how a bout a lags when 50+ ppl from 1 side and 50 + ather will spam aoe ? :D

Ragnarok Delrhe

12-02-2009, 13:58

wtf earth dont need love, water does.

Az_

12-02-2009, 13:59

I got... wet...:ohno:

Ighox

12-02-2009, 13:59

Awesome improvements, keep it up.

smoke2000

12-02-2009, 13:59

looks cool , keep visually upgrading the game. But don't spend too much time in stuff people can disable anyway (So spells are good). Like grass/shadows, it's all good for videos and screenshots, but if you lose a competitive edge by using them, they won't be used by a large percentage of people.

Temko Firewing

12-02-2009, 13:59

"omfg"

and where is mah bloodcraft?

nizzie

12-02-2009, 14:00

Very nice!

Virindii

12-02-2009, 14:00

damm impale looks great :-D

Aerias

12-02-2009, 14:01

looks cool , keep visually upgrading the game. But don't spend too much time in stuff people can disable anyway (So spells are good). Like grass/shadows, it's all good for videos and screenshots, but if you lose a competitive edge by using them, they won't be used by a large percentage of people.

People with good computers can run all that and still be competitive, like me.

raffraff

12-02-2009, 14:04

Really nice!

Light Magic next please ;)

Tedium

12-02-2009, 14:05

It is only a matter of time before we see more, Good work AV keep it coming!

ISVRaDa

12-02-2009, 14:05

Finally!...now please improvements in sounds system.

oG-

12-02-2009, 14:06

I hope they will do a great deal about Water especially.. i kinda cry when i look at those spells

Dhmitris

12-02-2009, 14:06

just great!!:ohno:

Nathero

12-02-2009, 14:06

Cant wait!

peertje

12-02-2009, 14:07

these look amazing. just worried about the effects they will have on my already shitty fps

atome

12-02-2009, 14:09

Fantastic, games moving in the right direction.

Watch the population blossom.

smoke2000

12-02-2009, 14:09

People with good computers can run all that and still be competitive, like me.

I didnt mean it like that, not fps related.

Shadows make some spots really dark and hard to see enemies. Same thing with grass, crouching people can use grass as cover, but if the person has Grass disabled , they dude crouching simply looks stupid.

w0rm

12-02-2009, 14:10

Nice, I hope you guys won't forget Necromancy this time :)

Esudar

12-02-2009, 14:10

epic

Numz dePimche

12-02-2009, 14:11

gj

Wizlock23

12-02-2009, 14:12

I didnt mean it like that, not fps related.

Shadows make some spots really dark and hard to see enemies. Same thing with grass, crouching people can use grass as cover, but if the person has Grass disabled , they dude crouching simply looks stupid.

Yeah i think its pretty dumb to allow ppl to disable certain areas of the game to "see better" when its suppose to be used for stealthy attacks and hiding . IMO they should be stuck "on" or at least fixed so that you cant flip a switch to see were shadows should block out your sight and grass cover your approach .

ninogan

12-02-2009, 14:12

This almost makes me want to become a mage.

Caaahl

12-02-2009, 14:14

Impale just looks sweeeet! :p

KCC989

12-02-2009, 14:15

Yeah this looks great. I wonder how badass a surging impale would look? Also do you think that Meteor strike will be a real AoE now?

Spinx

12-02-2009, 14:24

Awesome! but i will miss the floating cloud of skulls =(

Rezwarius

12-02-2009, 14:27

OMFG im so happy about this.. I cant wait to see the rest.. Drool.

empa

12-02-2009, 14:28

This is very nice. I hope all magics gets improved animations.

stega

12-02-2009, 14:29

LOL at only earth magic... is this how the rest of the expansion is gonna be like??? "Well we are adding stuff for all of ________ and they will see revamps but _______is simply the one that will be coming with Conquer the Seas.

melipone

12-02-2009, 14:30

This would be cool if buffs didn't last so long and were stronger, as people could use the visual cues to decide how to approach a situation. So if you see someone do the Strength buff it might be worth avoiding going into melee or cast a Strength debuff. Would make the pvp a bit deeper and I think 3 rows of buffs that last for like 10 mins is ridiculous for skill based pvp

LOL at only earth magic... is this how the rest of the expansion is gonna be like??? "Well we are adding stuff for all of ________ and they will see revamps but _______is simply the one that will be coming with Conquer the Seas.

welcome to how MMORPG's develop. Also consider the small team and adding effects is just a goodie really not the core stuff they should work on so feel happy they considered it and expand upon.

Abremalist

12-02-2009, 14:34

As an Earth Mage. I Love This. A lot.

Abremalist

12-02-2009, 14:36

And Impale is one of my most loved damage spells. :)

Awesome animation.

L-C

12-02-2009, 14:40

The patch is tomorrow. Are we getting a full preview like the last patch?

http://www.darkfallonline.com/expansion/

I wonder what happened to the "Special Attribute Consumables" from that page.

Keno

12-02-2009, 14:40

Just please tell me you fixed blizzard, please.

Keno

12-02-2009, 14:42

Lol at stega

Jango1337

12-02-2009, 14:54

that all looks sick, the new impale reminds me of the one from prototype

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8BuDJmXt9s

can't wait

Brother Justin

12-02-2009, 14:56

Kinda sucks that it's only earth magic.

Earth have been pretty lacking in effects since beta.

About time they focused on it.

BluesFunk

12-02-2009, 15:06

Wow, these effects are actually.... Really good!

Friagrim

12-02-2009, 15:07

It just dawned on me....... people are talking as if they are going to get earth magic because it looks pretty?... Sweet we need more people like all of you... to prey on...

RonarcBracklaw

12-02-2009, 15:08

Holy crap those look awesome! Glad to see my fav school in the preview :-P

Friagrim

12-02-2009, 15:10

The patch is tomorrow. Are we getting a full preview like the last patch?

http://www.darkfallonline.com/expansion/

I wonder what happened to the "Special Attribute Consumables" from that page.

HAHA the 1 good point I've seen. But I think it will be wasted. Hopefully they do infact have this coming tomorrow. If not, hell of an observation, gg.

kukimata

12-02-2009, 15:15

Erth Magic deserved it :). GJ

Sanshi44

12-02-2009, 15:16

Dam nice impale is sweet hope they buff that spell 2 m ake it worth using : P, earth not my main school but still cant wait to see spel lupgrade for rest of the schools

Kasmos

12-02-2009, 15:19

Holy shit, those looked awesome. Now once the other spells get some love and SOUND gets some much needed love too, this game is going to look and sound even more fucking sick.

I'm just happy the place holder shit is finally getting revamped. Once all spells look that good and sound gets a much needed boost, this game is going to be insane looking.

CattBoy

12-02-2009, 15:21

Yessssssssssss

XAleX

12-02-2009, 15:23

Quite nice I'd say!

I especially like Iron Skin, Meteor and MOSTLY Impale, which is an amazing animation. Brawn is moderately good, and Acid Ward is still so-and-so, somewhat low-resolution.

Overall it is good to see improvements in all aspects of the game, including some rougher graphics elements that surely hindered the appeal of the game for some potential players. I hope the other magic schools get the same treatment soon, but melee as well, I wanna see cool animations for whirlwinds, cleave and blows in general ;)

Can't wait for new tombstone, better blood and more gore!

stingerII

12-02-2009, 15:25

fucking awesome :D

Patriota

12-02-2009, 15:35

crazy stuff, finaly some love with earth

Wuuz

12-02-2009, 15:36

new tombstones, +++blood splatter with extra helpings of gore...

I liked the tombstone part :P... and i hope it includes a marker in tombstone for allready skinned mobs.

Signus

12-02-2009, 15:44

I LOVE the bear, lots of energy behind the animation. Can't wait for the rest of the schools to see some love, hopefully I don't have to wait for another expansion, yeah?

TooTight

12-02-2009, 15:45

wonder if we'll still be able to see the moons under the ocean floor =[

Caaahl

12-02-2009, 15:45

I wonder if earthquake got new animations too or if it still looks like healing chant. :rolleyes:

Jonte912

12-02-2009, 15:49

I LOVE the bear, lots of energy behind the animation. Can't wait for the rest of the schools to see some love, hopefully I don't have to wait for another expansion, yeah?

the bear is allready in game, has been for ages

blob

12-02-2009, 16:05

great looking animations, impale rocks .

Kaang

12-02-2009, 16:13

Hope there will be added spell customizations to allow underwater casting

Banok

12-02-2009, 16:14

earth magic wasn't that bad compared to other schools. kind of wierd that they choose to revamp earth animations when only 1 or 2 where missing.

Stue00

12-02-2009, 16:17

This expansion is getting better every day!

Lets hope the essential things are being fixed aswell. Theres still alot of exploits around.

samureyed

12-02-2009, 16:21

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG :D:eek:

Looks so good! Well done, cant wait to see whats in store for other schools of magic!

VooDoo Hex

12-02-2009, 17:06

Looks pretty sweet. Hopefully disintegrate doesnt look exactly like corrosive blast anymore either. :D Also I always heard impale was terrible so I never purchased it. Is it any good?

Kiad

12-02-2009, 17:08

ummm the brawn one has been in the game for months...

Dingbat

12-02-2009, 17:09

BRB Grinding earth magic.

raapnaap

12-02-2009, 17:14

That brown is the same one as ingame now.

I wonder what they did with the rest of the earth spells. :)

Emolas

12-02-2009, 17:14

ummm the brawn one has been in the game for months...

ummm no

bartillo

12-02-2009, 17:15

OMG! well i wanted to go mage killer but hm.. idk now :p earth looks to good.

Caaahl

12-02-2009, 17:18

ummm no

ummmm yes indeed.

Emolas

12-02-2009, 17:20

ummmm yes indeed.

Is that a surging? My brawn never looked like that.

DwellerBelow

12-02-2009, 17:27

Nice!

Can I qq now and find some reason why this is wrong and Imba ? :)

The f* do you need a reason for?

QQ!

OP!

Now Earth Magix is the coolest!

Totaly imbalanced till the other animations get here....

MortalZero

12-02-2009, 17:32

The f* do you need a reason for?

QQ!

OP!

Now Earth Magix is the coolest!

Totaly imbalanced till the other animations get here....

True, the effects will visually stun the opponent and set him back for my damage :D

stingerII

12-02-2009, 17:35

True, the effects will visually stun the opponent and set him back for my damage :D

lol, yea! pretty magic will pwn ugly animated magics xD

hyperion_x91

12-02-2009, 17:41

Glad to finally see spell animations are getting reworked... GJ AV.

Caaahl

12-02-2009, 17:41

Is that a surging? My brawn never looked like that.

Mhm.. no. It's been that way for me since the last expansion, i guess.

Sinny

12-02-2009, 17:47

Sweet!

pity I don't use Earth Magic, part from Strength buff Brawn. but hey they're going to revamp other schools.

lets hope air Magic is next :D.

Walking Target

12-02-2009, 17:59

Earth is the one to do since it is the most misleading. I literally thought that I was seeing necro for my first month of play.

Brawn animation has been in. I actually saw one of my clanmates cast it last night. I think maybe it bugs out though, because there have been times I have seen it cast and it looked weird and not like a bear at all.

Nice changes, the more differentiation we can get between spell animations, the better.

Funkadoodle

12-02-2009, 18:19

Phenomenal looking. Kinda sucks that Impale is a crappy end game spell and it got the best animation. Did Corrosive Blast and Disintegrate get visual upgrades?

Jango1337

12-02-2009, 18:26

Phenomenal looking. Kinda sucks that Impale is a crappy end game spell and it got the best animation. Did Corrosive Blast and Disintegrate get visual upgrades?

from how the spell looked in the video I think they're finally fixing it so you can fire it at the ground and spikes shoot out from where the ray hits and hits anyone on the spikes, maybe (hopefully :D)

Simsimma

12-02-2009, 18:26

I got... wet...:ohno:

Seems water got an overhaul too :)

Barokk

12-02-2009, 18:34

IMO the sound of the spells are equally important. They sounds annoyingly horrible atm.

nisco17

12-02-2009, 18:42

Wow! These are amazing!

bongloads

12-02-2009, 18:47

Just please tell me you fixed blizzard, please.

first thing i thought of w/this thread

Arkh

12-02-2009, 19:38

This the kind of thing which make me be in favor of small release every thursday (wtf with friday release ?) or every two thursday.
So AV can had little fluff and not destroy everything, players have new things more often (I miss beta days and the weeks after launch for that). While you can still have big expansion every three to six month for big game changing things like the sea fortresses.

Gray Fox

12-02-2009, 19:48

So nice!!! Impale was awesome!

Kay Rica

12-02-2009, 20:38

So nice!!! Impale was awesome!

Too bad it's a useless spell :(

Avan

12-02-2009, 21:02

Too bad it's a useless spell :(

Too bad you're judging too early.

Dunmer

12-02-2009, 21:07

You wet more than my appetite with Impale.

neon sheild

12-02-2009, 21:13

awesome!
These effects look soooo cool!

smoke2000

12-02-2009, 21:18

I agree, graphical updates would be fun more frequently , just do a 2 hour maintenance once in a while. There's hardly game breaking bugs in graphics.

Narcowski

12-02-2009, 21:22

Impale looks so awesome.

Hopefully Water comes next, it needs the love nearly as badly as earth did.

LisaL.

12-02-2009, 21:42

i like it

BelegStrongbow

12-02-2009, 21:42

I can't wait for all the spells to get a revamp. Hopefully they keep upgrading all the animations and effects. AWesome awesome stuff.

ZeeSavageshot

12-02-2009, 21:58

Any news on spell sounds? For instance Witches Brew from Witchcraft has the usual "boom" sound after it is cast, but once it reaches 50 the sound changes to a more subtle (and pleasing IMO) sound effect.

The sonic boom effect from spells is the first thing I noticed when I joined the game and I took it as the developers just using that particular sound as a place-holder until new ones were added.

Nonetheless, the new animations and art are definitely awesome!

:D

Daggermaniac

12-02-2009, 22:09

Cool! I wonder if Meteor Strike will be a "real" AE spell now instead of a "bolt"?

But the graphics look cool.
If you notice the video, she is aiming straight (slightly tilted down) but there is an animation that kind of looks like a buff, and then an AoE Meteor Strike ON HER. Looks like we have more love to PBAoE Spells :). Love it

-Ex maiden

PS.: Fuck rerolling, lolol. Wheres the cool archery animations HMMM?

Realbigdeal22

12-02-2009, 22:09

WOW thats great. I can now see them fixing the magic problem balance. I never let AV down since beta and im really comming back after the expansion.

Valroth

12-02-2009, 22:17

The brawn animation is already ingame, has been for a while. I really like the rest of these animations though.

I'm mostly just excited for the new general Earth casting animation, the current thick-orange-swirl really blocks your vision. It looks as though this new thinner-green-swirl will help that, I hope.

Sarphus

12-02-2009, 22:39

looks good.

griM'

12-02-2009, 22:49

Boner. Loving that impale spell. Lets see some more spell effects.

SeverinCompte

12-02-2009, 23:05

Sah...

Weet.

jelsea

12-02-2009, 23:51

Ah, Ironskin you can't cast that on yourself, unless that has changed. So please let me know if Ironskin is now a AOE buff so I can start working that up. Why would a Target buff have more pts then a self buff, don't make sense to me.

chokke

12-02-2009, 23:53

Ah, Ironskin you can't cast that on yourself, unless that has changed. So please let me know if Ironskin is now a AOE buff so I can start working that up. Why would a Target buff have more pts then a self buff, don't make sense to me.

So you and your buddy can buff each other rather then just bufing yourself, thus making you more efficient in combat.

jelsea

12-03-2009, 00:02

So you and your buddy can buff each other rather then just bufing yourself, thus making you more efficient in combat.

Ya I can understand that, but I worked Stoneskin up to 99, and then I bought Ironskin and casted it at 1, and it gave me more pts of protection then Stoneskin at 99.

Niburu

12-03-2009, 00:22

??
So you and your buddy can buff each other rather then just bufing yourself, thus making you more efficient in combat.

Narcowski

12-03-2009, 00:30

Ah, Ironskin you can't cast that on yourself, unless that has changed. So please let me know if Ironskin is now a AOE buff so I can start working that up. Why would a Target buff have more pts then a self buff, don't make sense to me.

Target buffs are statistically better because they require more skill and coordination to use effectively. In a zerg situation, people will self-buff, but a truly organized fighting force will utilize targeted buffs as well. Just a little something else to differentiate the elite groups from the majority of players.

Yakamoz

12-03-2009, 00:45

Great news, I hope that one day we will see new sound effects as well.

Majorleague

12-03-2009, 01:06

wow, i'm loving these new spell effects. looking good AV :D

XAleX

12-03-2009, 01:49

Now I want new animations for melee as well!

Ginger Magician

12-03-2009, 02:59

Very nice indeed.Impressive.Purely fluff but the currrent animations are poor and this is another substantial improvement to the games gfx.

Narcowski

12-03-2009, 03:06

Very nice indeed.Impressive.Purely fluff but the currrent animations are poor and this is another substantial improvement to the games gfx.

You made a post without complaining? Good job!

:ninja:

Temko Firewing

12-03-2009, 03:13

Very nice indeed.Impressive.Purely fluff but the currrent animations are poor and this is another substantial improvement to the games gfx.

You made a post without complaining? Good job!

:ninja:

:ninja:Stealth complaint!:ninja:

Chris Windblade

12-03-2009, 03:15

So is it just me or did they change Meator to a pointblank air like earthquake cept not able to hold. Aside from that awsome also glade roses the magic Dmg sprite got updated too as well as the green acid look on the wind up of earth spells. Sounder if they made is sound like ozzzing acid insted of fire.

Floyd

12-03-2009, 03:16

Ya I can understand that, but I worked Stoneskin up to 99, and then I bought Ironskin and casted it at 1, and it gave me more pts of protection then Stoneskin at 99.

Don't the self buffs last twice as long?

Chris Windblade

12-03-2009, 03:17

Sorry typo not air, ao. iPhone auto spell some times is a pain in the ass.

Omegataco

12-03-2009, 03:46

LOL at only earth magic... is this how the rest of the expansion is gonna be like??? "Well we are adding stuff for all of ________ and they will see revamps but _______is simply the one that will be coming with Conquer the Seas.

Yes sir. go ahead spoiled sir and snap your fingers and make it magically happen. They have a small team and these things take time not to mention all of the other fantastic features they have been focusing on first before this.

dirtknap

12-03-2009, 03:47

This would be cool if buffs didn't last so long and were stronger, as people could use the visual cues to decide how to approach a situation. So if you see someone do the Strength buff it might be worth avoiding going into melee or cast a Strength debuff. Would make the pvp a bit deeper and I think 3 rows of buffs that last for like 10 mins is ridiculous for skill based pvp

I agree. 1 min duration max.

elf8bliss

12-03-2009, 04:30

Fuck ya! My first elemental I was going to pick up was Earth, perfect timing for me!

Soulipcistic

12-03-2009, 07:06

summon a bear wut ?

Kelsen

12-03-2009, 07:10

So is it just me or did they change Meator to a pointblank air like earthquake cept not able to hold. Aside from that awsome also glade roses the magic Dmg sprite got updated too as well as the green acid look on the wind up of earth spells. Sounder if they made is sound like ozzzing acid insted of fire.

Fairly positive this was for representation purposes only, it should cast the same as any AoE. The same goes for the Ironskin the the video, the character self cast it although in game it is really a target other buff. Just a little Dev magic for video purposes folks.

I'm hoping earthquake looks like an earthquake. I remember wanting to see this spell so badly when I first started playing and then I was severely disappointed, perhaps more so about its gfx then its usefulness.

And no the Brawn animation has not changed, this is in game already. (why are some arguing this fact)

yeadin

12-03-2009, 07:14

Out of the many posts, this one attract my attention.
I believe it is possible for anyone to participate.
Excellent ! I like it very much.:idea:

Tiak

12-03-2009, 09:01

Is Impale going to be changes so it actually works like the animation would imply? Because THAT would be awesome.

Aristos

12-03-2009, 10:58

Ya I can understand that, but I worked Stoneskin up to 99, and then I bought Ironskin and casted it at 1, and it gave me more pts of protection then Stoneskin at 99.

To promote teamwork and give people who have high buff others a role in combat. If self buffs were stronger than other buffs, everyone would all be forced to get them.

electrofux

12-03-2009, 13:23

Really Looks like meteorstrike becoming a paoe. Every School only one nuke then?

Arkh

12-03-2009, 19:36

Target buffs are statistically better because they require more skill and coordination to use effectively. In a zerg situation, people will self-buff, but a truly organized fighting force will utilize targeted buffs as well. Just a little something else to differentiate the elite groups from the majority of players.

Still waiting to see some script-kiddie using backsticking on one account which macro buffs on his main toon.

Wizard of Yndor

12-04-2009, 13:44

.

One thing I'd like to see changed with the new animations is less brightness in our faces when we cast at night.

Some animations when casting at night are too bright, and blind the caster. Kinda lame not being able to see my crosshairs, or target because of my own spells.

hengle

12-04-2009, 13:59

impale isnt as useless as you'd think. does pretty much the same damage as acid arrow and works great on inclines where a person is just peeping their head out, or over a wall. within range its easier to hit someone with than shooting a bow, and you dont have to lead targets who are spazzing around. of course its always been easier to just spam rank 90's... plus its just so much more satisfying to know you nuked down that turd trying to run away with a nice lightning bolt to the back rather than disintegrating the ground 5 feet away from them.

hengle

12-04-2009, 14:01

also, if/when you decide to give necro spells a visible animation, buff the school for christs sake. it has 2 good spells and the rest arent worth using, except arguably eye rot which is like a rend counter for a caster vs a mage killer.